Work continues on with Paul McCartney's upcoming studio set -- which will be his first mainstream release since the 2007 Top Three collection, Memory Almost Full. In addition to working with Ethan Johns, son of Glyn Johns -- who worked with McCartney on the Beatles' Let It Be and Wings' Red Rose Speedway albums -- McCartney has been recording with Amy Winehouse and Bruno Mars producer Mark Ronson. Ronson spoke about laying down tracks with McCartney, saying, "You don't really ask what it's for. You just keep quiet, do good work and hope he's happy with it. It's just: 'shut up, sit there, and learn.'" (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Over the years, McCartney's been known to record endlessly in the studio -- especially after building his own, called The Mill, near his home in Sussex, England. Despite the close proximity, McCartney has learned to draw back from going overboard creating new music time: "I do fiddle about more now, 'cause I've got my own studio now. If I'm feelin' a bit fed up and just make up a track -- I do that a bit. I tent to try to keep it separate -- 'cause you can, y'know, just get fed up. If you're there all the time, it's not as much fun. So I try to balance it up. Y'know, just have times when -- like in the summer, I don't work much in the summer. The minute that weather gets good, I just feel soft going in the studio. Unless there's a big album on, or something and you've got everyone in and you've gotta go in. But if I have the choice, then I won't go in. Then I'll go on holiday; do sensible things like that."

The Beatles and the Rolling Stones are among the 150 notable candidates under consideration to appear on the British 10 pound note. The new Series F banknote, which is to be issued by the Bank of England early next year, is slated to replace the current Series E token featuring Charles Darwin. In addition to the '60s rock icons, other vying for a spot on the 10 pound bill are Winston Churchill, David Beckham, Princess Diana, Steven Hawking, John Cleese, Sir David Attenborough, the late Queen Mother, and William Shakespeare, among others. (FirstPost.com)

Legendary Beatles producer George Martin will be honored by the U.K. Producers Guild on February 7th at London's Cafe de Paris. Martin -- who'll turn 87 on January 3rd -- was behind the boards for all eight years of the "Fab Four's" recorded output and will receive the Guild's prestigious Award for Outstanding Contribution to U.K. Music. (Vintage Vinyl News)

George Martin's final work before retiring was crafting the soundtrack for Beatles' 2006 Cirque du Soleil LOVE production and soundtrack. He composed his final score for hire to accompany George Harrison's 1968 demo for "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," which was officially released in 1996 on The Beatles Anthology 3 collection: "The song itself, on the Anthology is a demo and then someone had the idea of asking me to write a score of this demo. And this was a bit of a shock for me, because I never thought I'd be writing a score for George long after he died. And also with (his wife) Olivia listening to it, I had to write something that she would like, as well as something the show would like. And anyway, we did it, she came to the session and I could see by the look on her face she approved it, so that was okay, and everyone seemed to think that it worked very well."

Sean Lennon and Deerhoof drummer Greg Saunier have formed the new band, called Mystical Weapons. The band's 13-track self-titled debut will be released on January 15th through Lennon's Chimera Music label. The band's press release shed some light on the album: "Mystical Weapons is one of those projects that evolved almost of its own accord. A couple of years ago (Yoko Ono's) Plastic Ono Band was playing a show in San Francisco with Deerhoof. (Sean Lennon's duo) Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger was doing a club date the next day, so Sean asked Greg if he'd like to form an ad hoc duo to open the show. Bam. That was it. And it worked so well, they were both hungry for more." (ConsequenceOfSound.net)

Over the years, Pete Townshend has also developed a close personal and professional relationship with Sean Lennon and remains a true fan of his new music: "It's tough, being in the position he's in. He's always going to be compared to his dad, but he absolutely exalts his dad and adores what he remembers about his dad, and loves his dad's music -- and loves what he can hear from his father in his own work. But what I love about Sean, is that quite clearly a New Yorker. He's a Northeastener, he's a Northeast seaboard musician. You hear him play and you can hear New York. He sounds sometimes in his modality, the chords that he uses, y'know, he sounds like a James Taylor."